Codes and standards for the design and construction of reactors

Apart from the fields of radiation protection and nuclear fuel itself, the construction of a nuclear power plant involves few truly specific techniques, but requires the various parties involved to have a deep understanding of and strict adherence to the quality objectives to be achieved, making it necessary to have a common reference for expressing them.

The Design and Construction Rules (RCC), published from 1981 onwards, were intended to meet this need. Drawn up on the basis of available industrial practices, they were then constantly enriched by feedback and updated to take account of changes in the regulatory and standards context – today European and international – on which they are based, as well as the work to harmonize practices undertaken in the Franco-German context of the development of the EPR (European Pressurized Water Reactor) project. The purpose of this dossier is to present them.

The first part provides an historical review of the establishment of codes applicable to nuclear reactors, in the context of the construction of French nuclear power plants.

After a general overview of international, European and French standardization in the nuclear field, the second part describes the operational and organizational measures taken to ensure the management and development of these rules.

The various works are then presented, with particular emphasis on the rules governing the construction and operational monitoring of mechanical equipment for power generation boilers.

Finally, we look at recent developments in regulations and industrial needs, and their implications both for the content of French rules and codes, and for the need to open up to industrial practices offering equivalent guarantees.